06-07-2008, 05:34 PM
| #1 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Kansas City, MO
Posts: 1,552
| Rock Island 1911? Are these any good, I see some great deals with these guns as cheap as $300 sometimes. Are they any good? How would you compare them to a Taurus? Thanks  |
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06-07-2008, 05:42 PM
| #2 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: (SW) Portland, OR
Posts: 406
| From everything I've read and heard, theyre great pistols, especially for the price. Some people will tell you "you get what you pay for" and while I think thats true the majority of the time, Rock Island Armory appears to have made a solid, reliable, accurate 1911. I read a few torture tests on 1911s, one of which included a Wilson, A Springfield, a Kimber, and a Rock Island. He put them in mud, sand, sugar, submerged them in water, ran over them iwth his truck, and performed all sorts of other tests, and basically concluded that they were all equally reliable and fun to shoot. I'll see if I can dig up the article. But from everything I've read and heard, they're great. |
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06-07-2008, 05:44 PM
| #3 |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 190
| I bought a RI 1911 a little over a year ago, still got it. It's not going anywhere. Enjoy shooting it, best ammo I found for it is Magtech. Might want to change sights, and get some different clips. I bought 2 Kimber 8 round and never had a problem with them. For the money, and in my opinion, they will shoot with any of them. |
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06-07-2008, 05:46 PM
| #4 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Kansas City, MO
Posts: 1,552
| The one in particular I am looking at comes with pre ban 10 round mags, and will take a 14 round mag, according to the owner. The price is great, just kinda weary since I have never touched a RI before. |
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06-07-2008, 05:48 PM
| #5 |
| Senior Member   Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Northwest USA
Posts: 2,062
| No personal experience, but what I've read and heard speaks well of them... Will be good to hear back from you after the purchase to learn about how it works for your needs...
__________________ "Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." -Unknown |
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06-07-2008, 07:22 PM
| #7 |
| Senior Member   Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 5,377
| So basically, saying it's the "best bang for the buck values out there" (which I've also heard said of the WASR10 for AK 47's) the Rock Island is the WASR10 of .45s? lol
__________________ I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6! |
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06-07-2008, 09:10 PM
| #8 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 216
| i picked up a rockisland last year and havent had any problems with it .... i use cast bullets in mine and it loves them .... no problems !!!!! |
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06-08-2008, 10:46 PM
| #9 |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 257
| no it is the mak90 of aks. lol. heres mine. http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...9/100_0087.jpg http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...9/100_0085.jpg http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...9/100_0084.jpg keep in mind you cant buy one like this. i built (customized) this one myself |
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06-21-2008, 02:38 PM
| #10 |
| Member Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 95
| I have RIA 1911A1. LOVE IT! The principle difference between it and the Colt or other more expensive clones is cast forged parts as opposed to machined out of steel stock. Some people beleve the cast parts will wear out more quickly. Maybe they will, but you'd have to do ALOT of shooting to get there. And that they are otherwise designed as a faithfull Colt copy designed for traditional military round nose solid ammo. With which they function well. But it says in the owners manual that if you intend to use HP's or some of the other ammo types, some internal polihing of feed ramps etc MAY need to be done. In short, they can be ammo picky when using ammo OTHER THAN SP round nose ammo. As with anything, the trick is know what your intended use is, and buy the gun that fits the bill. IMO as wonderfull as hydo-shocks and HP ammo is, the traditional .45ACP ball ammo has a good enough rep as a man stopper to satisfy my SD needs. And I'm not match target shooter, so plinker accuracy works also. If you don't mind these minor shortcomings for a substancially less expensive price, the RIA is a good buy for you. |
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06-21-2008, 05:49 PM
| #11 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 1,324
| How come I haven't seen this thread until now????? I have three Rock Island .45's, and I ain't turning loose of ANY of 'em! All three are just as solid, and reliable as I could want. I have two of the GI models, and one Compact, which is my daily carry gun. I can't say enough about them, except I want more of them, it's a disease just like Mosinitis. Seriously! You can have three of four of them for the price of one middle-shelf custom 1911. I've turned one GI into a "clone" of the Rock Island Tactical model (which I highly recommend, the Tactical), and that gun is the most fun to shoot now! Last two outings have been great with it. I had it blued, and it's gorgeous now. Photos and video.....   The other GI, I'm tinkering with, making it into a clone of the WWII Colt M1911A1, which the Rock is pretty dang close to already. It's on the bottom, my Colt WWII repro is on top. Only changes to it in this photo is the WWII surplus grips, a WWII Colt trigger, the magazine and the mainspring housing. I still have a Colt hammer, thuimb safety and grip safety to put on.   And my little buddy, The Pup.....  
__________________ What she doesn't know about, doesn't piss her off.....  Last edited by rondog; 06-21-2008 at 05:51 PM. |
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06-28-2008, 08:27 PM
| #12 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Southern Indiana
Posts: 194
| Rock Island and Charles Daly .45's are made by the same gun company in the Philippines. I don't have a R.I., but I do have a older model Charles Daly. I like it, it is pretty accurate. GO for it.
__________________ "if guns kill people, then I can blame misspelled words on my pencil.- Larry "The Cable Guy" |
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06-28-2008, 08:34 PM
| #14 |
| Senior Member  | their ok but i like my kimbers better the the rock island i had . if i am going to trust a gun with my life i want it to be a good one. not knocking people who love them .
__________________ I'm part kalishnakov, part heckler and Koch. |
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06-29-2008, 06:16 AM
| #15 | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Southern Indiana
Posts: 194
| Kimber/R.I./Clones Quote:
__________________ "if guns kill people, then I can blame misspelled words on my pencil.- Larry "The Cable Guy" | |
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06-29-2008, 10:05 AM
| #16 | |
| Senior Member | Quote:
__________________ I'm part kalishnakov, part heckler and Koch. | |
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06-29-2008, 12:12 PM
| #17 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Montgomery, IL.
Posts: 4,193
| Rock Island is just like Taurus. Purists sneer at them, but owners are usually delighted with them. |
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06-29-2008, 05:50 PM
| #18 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Wabash IN
Posts: 379
| My impressions: My Charles Daly: Made the first year, serial number under a little over 1000. Junk. The window for the slide stop was cut too low and it lets any slide stop ride out without being in the take down position. As well, it didn't allow the slide stop to raise up high enough to reliably stop the slide with most non-comp stops, and I had to raise it to allow it to do so. As well, the only fix for the slide stop is to put a bead of weld or silver solder on the underside where it contacts the frame, and file to fit. The frame itself is out of spec, and I have to watch to make sure I get slide stops with generous clearances or the stop will stick to the slide as the ear rides a bit outside the top rail. Taurus PT1911: I don't like these. Not aesthetically pleasing to me, but if it's functional, I have no problem. I almost ended up with one, but it failed the safety "click test." It had a badly fitted safety from the factory. I walked. Then I did things right. I figured that the makers were trying to do too much fancy stuff for too little money. Sooo.... I bought a military spec, newly manufactured RIA Government size. I passed on the "tactical" model. Maybe it would work fine, but I wasn't going to try it after having an ambi safety break on an early one (the CD) and have dovetailed sights fall off (also the CD). I shot several different boxes of ammo through it, and it functioned 100%, except for two FTF. I polished the breech face and that cured that problem. I got inside it and replaced all the springs with Wilsons. I also polished a few things and fitted an STI ambi safety (I'm a lefty). I discovered the grip safety and hammer were doing a number on my hand, and so I bobbed the hammer (it's getting a Colt Commander ring hammer very soon) and put an Ed Brown cut on it for a beavertail safety. The beavertail is a Competition STI, and it's made to be used with a fitted trigger or one with an adjustable slide stop. You see, they shortened the overtravel portion of the safety nose (you know that little step?) and it allowed the sear and disconnector to bind, giving me hammer follow and doubles. Temporary fix was to file and install an extra sear I had so it wouldn't do that any longer; permanent fix will be an Ed Brown grip safety which should be here tomorrow or Tuesday.  This is what it looks like right now. As I said, the grip safety is going to be changed out, as is the hammer. I like to know what's in my gun - I like projects though some don't like the way I do them. The final blending will come when I get the Brown grip safety. I don't want to blend it to the STI and have it be wrong for the Brown. Long story short: Unless you're feeling brave, get the standard and do what you want to it. It'll cost more to do yourself, but I've found that these are very nice guns to personalize/modify/customize, whatever. Definitely not junk, not the newer ones anyway. Also by doing it yourself, you won't have to wonder if they took shortcuts (like they did with my loaded Charles Daly) to squeeze the "loaded" parts into the budget. Just my take, lots of time and money put into two 1911s to learn this. Josh <><
__________________ Is it better to live by a corrupt society's standards rather than face persecution for not doing the same? This is the dilemma we now face. We must hold fast to our convictions as we confront this dilemma. Knowing one's self goes a long way in the crisis. - Me, Standup Philosopher |
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06-29-2008, 06:02 PM
| #19 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Poteet, Texas
Posts: 1,276
| Someone post the link to RI.
__________________ Aim real good we're nearly out of ammo. |
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06-29-2008, 06:45 PM
| #20 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Wabash IN
Posts: 379
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__________________ Is it better to live by a corrupt society's standards rather than face persecution for not doing the same? This is the dilemma we now face. We must hold fast to our convictions as we confront this dilemma. Knowing one's self goes a long way in the crisis. - Me, Standup Philosopher |
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